


Our Endless Numbered Days

by moriamithril



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Pre-LotR Timeline, Reluctant friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:49:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29377359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moriamithril/pseuds/moriamithril
Summary: While pursuing an evil and wretched creature, unknown to you as the beast called Gollum, you are held captive by the elves of Lothlórien. You are quickly released when their sights are set on encroaching orcs, and your curiosities towards the Marchwarden keep you drawn to the Golden Wood.
Relationships: Haldir of Lothlórien/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Our Endless Numbered Days

The restraints round your wrists cut into your skin _just_ so. It looked to be mere red thread, but you were cleverer than that; the elves of the Golden Wood wove magic incomprehensible to Men into their undergarments, you were almost certain of it. Your eyes flashed to your warden, and heat rose to your cheeks. What an improper thought, you chided yourself. This inconvenience has left you indecent, hysterical. You found yourself seated against a large tree of silver, smooth bark, very high up in a platform of sorts. After a curt nod of his head, the elf had wordlessly signaled you ascend the ladder, wondering if he would push you to your death as punishment for intruding. Your company for the evening sat just across from you, still and erect as a reed, quiver still laced over his back.

‘Isn’t this a rather harsh arrangement?’ you asked hotly, and your warden seemed to barely acknowledge you’d spoken at all. Likely you had given him time to anticipate a complaint; you’d been struggling uselessly against the cord that bound your hands together, likely making sounds of discontent. ‘You’ve taken my weapons, what comfort is it to you if I am further restrained?’

The elf - a male, quite tall, you noticed, even for an elf, and despite his very light hair that appeared nearly white in the light of the moon, his eyebrows were as dark as the shadows beyond you, stared. One of his eyebrows quirked, and he let his head cock ever so slightly to the left. He appeared to be considering you.

‘I’m no sorcerer, no witch,’ you spat, and you raised your arms to your head, shaking them in front of his eyes. Perhaps he did not understand you; you only heard him and the others speak in their own tongue. ‘I am defenseless now. If you will not let me pass through these woods, at least allow me the decency to scratch my nose -‘

The elf stood, and armor clanked lightly as he adjusted his weight from one foot to the other; he was rather…ample, a great distance spaced between each of his shoulders. Elves were supposed to be lithe, willowy. The armor sounded to indicate his movement but he showed no weariness from bearing the intricate metal, moving fluidly.

‘Do you not see worthy grounds for imprisonment?’

You failed to conceal shock when he finally spoke; a soft and commanding voice threaded with the accent of his own language pierced the night.

Of course you saw it. The elves were evasive and almost esoteric Beings, something of tales told at a child’s bedtime. You could hardly discern between lore and truth yourself, hardly a studied or well-traveled person of importance granted the luxury of learning unless it was essential to survival. And yet wouldn’t any man, of flesh and blood or fairytale, protect their lands? When such evil lurked about? Of course you understood their distrust. Even still, with each passing moment your target slinked further away, and impatient panic bubbled inside of you.

‘I am no threat and mean no harm,’ you pleaded now. ‘But my task is time-sensitive -‘

‘Your _task_ ,’ the guard mirrored back to you, voice like a resounding bell, a finality in his tone. ‘You are to remain under watch until dawn.’

‘You gave the others commands,’ you reminded him. You did not understand their words but their rank was plain; he’d been the first to lower his bow, and after he spoke, so did the others. ‘Can’t you decide what happens to a simple maiden, traveling through the night? This binding is tight, elf.’

‘Haldir,’ he corrected you tersely, eyebrow cocked high enough to suggest deep insult. ‘Is what you may call me.’

You gave him your name in a hurried droll, quite aware that he did not truly care to have heard it. Not a single muscle in his face flinched, but he watched you, expressionless.

You had refused the elf and his companions - two other males, one of red hair and the other also of gold - refused to tell what had drawn you into the Golden Wood. Truthfully, you were uncertain where their territory began; you would have been satisfied to skirt along the hem of the forest, just close enough to remain in the shadows, from the noses and eyes of the orcs, but your prey led you here. You were only afraid they would not believe you. ‘There’s something else creeping through Lothlórien,’ you whispered through gritted teeth, ‘and if you are as wise as you are pretty, perhaps you ought be more wary of what lies here beside the likes of me.’ The creature - not a man, nor quite a beast, something else entirely, but capable of vile, horrid things - you’d been tracking for nearly a fortnight. Lamp-like eyes in the dark occasionally gave hints to its existence, yet there had been times you questioned your mind, thinking you’d gone mad, simply invented the hissing, the choking sounds coming from a torn and bleeding throat…

Despite the desperate look you gave him, his dark blue eyes raked over you impassively. ‘I am aware of the creature you speak of,’ he replied evenly, paying no mind to your insult. ‘There is not a living soul that crosses these paths without our knowledge. I would advise you to abandon this pursuit.’

Incredulous, you snarled in the pale light of the moon, waxing near fullness. It cast a grey shadow upon your captor’s crown, making his fair face appear shaded. Braids kept his long hair back behind his ears, revealing their slender point. ‘Perhaps you ought to save your counsel for those who seek it!’ you cautioned in a hushed rage. ‘How do you remain so uncaring! So unmoved! That thing, _whatever_ it is, did an unthinkable thing in the village of my people. Babies gone missing - does your kind not see the wickedness that’s begun to plague the world? Or do you not see what lies beyond your _golden canopy_ -‘

‘How quick tempered mortals can be,’ he mused, a maddening calm he maintained beneath an unbroken layer of severity. ‘And rash. Not to mention thoroughly righteous in their conviction, no matter how ill-informed they might be. It is my duty to uphold the laws that bind me to these lands.’

‘A law so stiff that it requires each foot that falls here to become a _prisoner?_ ’

‘You demand blind trust and yet would not reveal your cause?’ he quipped, and the faintest hint of a smirk appeared on his lips.

‘I’ve given it to you!’ you seethed. ‘And still my hands are tied!’

‘Quiet.’

Haldir crouched to one knee quickly and with ease; tilting his head, he grasped his bow in one hand as he listened, and waited. You heard nothing but the faint rustling of leaves. After several moments, Haldir moved, seeming satisfied that what he thought he might have heard was not of importance.

There was silence once more, and Haldir sat across from you again, eyes fixed on the space in the floor of the platform you emerged from. ‘We know what grows in Mordor, the arm that stretches further,’ he stated. ‘It has been many years since I was stationed for nightwatch. The need to do so increases, and it will not cease yet. Remaining here is for both our safety and yours.’

‘I mean no harm,’ you repeated fervently. ‘Whatever evil brews, I do not stoke its fire.’

‘And why,’ he said, ‘should I place my trust in that? Why would I release you?’

Noting his subtle mirth, you narrowed your eyes, your lips quirking into a smile. His bearing relaxed, barely, and your eyes fell to his hands resting on his knees. You parted your lips with your tongue. Perhaps a different approach might work.

‘I am very capable, even if I am no elf,’ you said, your voice an unfamiliar husk you’d only heard in pubs and inns. Haldir remained a stone, but his eyes watched you intently. ‘I am rather good with my hands, you see.’ You flashed your hands in front of you, wriggling your fingers as you bit your bottom lip in jest. ‘I can hunt my own meal, I can wield my own blade. I can sew, threading delicately,’ you enunciated, unsure of where you words were hoping to take the elf, but he seemed ensnared in your game, if not intrigued. ‘I am a woman of many crafts.’

Haldir’s eyes flashed, but he smiled faintly. ‘You only give me further reason to keep you tied up, mortal,’ he said quietly.

‘I have not finished,’ you replied. ‘I can help you fight the orcs that you surely know make for the borders of these lands. I am skilled with the blade.’

A short huff of air through his nose might have been a laugh, his armor reflecting in the moonlight as his chest moved. ‘Have you come all this way to offer your sword, craftswoman? We have yet to have one of your kind volunteer to join our guard.’

‘I could at least help if a threat presents itself until I’ve reached the eastern borders again,’ you shrugged, pleased the elf seemed to enjoy your game. ‘It’s rather cold, as well,’ you added regretfully, ‘I would prefer to be on the ground than in the wind like this, with my tent. Or on the move to keep blood flowing.’ You smiled with teeth after this, and to your delight, the elf swallowed.

‘If it’s cold that bothers you, you need only ask.’ At his side was a small bundle of things, and he drew out a silvery cloak. Haldir watched you for what felt like a long while, and you shrank beneath his gaze. Whether he was curiously scrutinizing you or considering something, you could not tell. There was an inscrutability to his feature now, the heaviness in his face during your capture gone. With the threat of his bow gone and his look of wariness etched away, you became very aware of his radiance. That was a rumor of the elves that seemed to stem from certitude: they possessed an enchanting beauty that even you could not deny, regardless of your circumstances. A handsome nose and a full mouth graced his face, and his lips parted slightly.

There was not enough space between your feet for him to rise, given his height, so he simply rose back to his knees and reached out in the darkness, the milky moon illuminating his hands as he grasped yours. He held your wrists with one large palm, wrapping warm fingers round them, and retrieved a dagger from his belt.

‘Mind your face,’ he warned, and with a swift movement, he cut the thread, and it fell to the wooden floor of the platform.

‘Thank you,’ you murmured, and you began to pull your hands away when he grasped the right one. Squinting in the night, your eyes met his. They watched you, very deep pools of blue that appeared black in the darkness. He finally glanced at your wrist, and looked to examine them. A crease was indented into your skin from where the binding was, and he grazed his thumb over it, feeling the dip just blow the bone.

‘This will fade,’ he said, and he reached beside him to retrieve the cloak and handed it to you. He released you gently before edging back towards the other side of the platform. ‘An entertaining attempt, but you shall remain here tonight.’

A swath of gratitude passed over you, and you watched Haldir carefully, but you frowned nonetheless, rubbing your wrist in your grip and feeling rather embarrassed.

‘I must leave here by first light.’

‘Which will not pass over the mountains to the east for hours to come,’ he said. ‘Rest until then.’

‘I cannot sleep!’ you countered, and another hint of amusement passed over him. To your frustration, it pleased you.

‘Do you require sustenance?’ he asked, and he sounded sincere, genuine in his curiosity. ‘Are you in need of food or drink?’

Something strange and warm contracted inside of you, and your mouth fell into a thin line. Elven folk were a paradox.

‘No, thank you,’ you said slowly, tempering yourself. Deciding it was no use arguing further, you edged yourself against the tree, pulling your woolen cloak around you. Begrudgingly taking Haldir’s guidance, you closed your eyes and made an attempt at seeking sleep.

You woke to a hand on your shoulder, and your name was spoken delicately. Blearily you saw Haldir, a look of concern barely traceable over his face. The world was awakening into a soft blue light.

‘There is a disturbance on the southern borders,’ he began quickly. ‘We must leave at once.’

‘We?’ you replied, gathering your bearings. ‘You intend to bring me? But the Lady -‘

‘I shall release you,’ he relented, though the words looked like they brought him conflict. ‘I will return your things and we make for the eastern border you entered through.’

You had not anticipated this. Your mouth hanging slightly agape, you nodded quickly, accepting his hand as you scrambled to your feet. He started down the ladder first, and you shut your eyes as you tried to climb back to the ground from such a height as carefully and swiftly as you could. Once you reached the bottom, Haldir had procured your rucksack and blade, sheathed and hanging from your belt. He stood alert as you wrapped your things around you, slinging on your pack, and he immediately started down the path as you kept up in the premature light of dawn.

After only a few minutes, he stopped, and pointed towards a thatch of meadow you could now see plainly through the trees. ‘It is against my better judgment, allowing you to go,’ he said, not affected by his quick sprinting.

‘Tell them I escaped then,’ you offered, shaking your head helplessly. You did not want this Haldir to be reprimanded for his kindness.

‘That is not my concern,’ he interrupted, and he grasped your wrist, his thumb seeking the mark from the binding. Like he’d promised, it had faded. ‘The evil you speak of spreads. It is not wise to travel alone.’

Unthinking, you clasped your hand over his, giving it an assuring shake. ‘I am keen,’ you said solemnly, and you bowed your head. ‘Now, do not let me keep you.’

Returning the respect, he dipped his head in return, disquiet overtaking him, you could feel it, yet his face pulled into a deep-set stoicism, an expression of determined duty.

‘Take care,’ he murmured, your name heavy on his tongue. He turned from where you stood, moving rapidly as he disappeared into the Golden Wood, magnificent foliage like sunlight against the steel-grey sky.

A gust of cold wind woke you from your reverie as you watched his figure disappear. ‘Take care,’ you whispered into the wind, already feeling its cut on your cheeks.


End file.
